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I found this visual to be an interesting model of what happens below the surface in a collaborative setting. Networking and building up a PLN certainly seem to be core activities, but as Berg mentions, it's often not recognized or valued.

I like how this source provided a unique way to look at collaboration. Collaboration is a skill that I am always trying to instill in my students. I also enjoyed that they included the graphic to help the reader understand the concept as well.

Renee, I appreciate you including this blog post with our Diigo collection of resources. This idea of the iceberg makes so much sense. It remembers me a lot of research surrounding language learning as well. There is so much below the surface that is hard to articulate or appreciate. This visual will be very helpful as I work with my teachers and admin next year. It is important that professionals understand that within PLNs there is a lot that happens that cannot be seen, yet it is these powerful connections and interactions that will most effective a teacher's practice

This article reviews how behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism have all been central ideas that we based our teaching on. However, in the new digital age, it is becoming evident that we need to shift to a connectivism point of view. We need to use the resources we have to connect with teachers and learn from each other.

This article, written by George Siemens explains how connectivism is the theory behind the PLNs. The author describes how connectivism fills the limitations of behaviorism, cognitivism and constructivism, the learning theories developed when learning was not impacted by technology. It is the complement. The author compares the connections in a PLN with pipes and says "The pipe is more important than the content within the pipe. Our ability to learn what we need for tomorrow is more important than what we know today." (Siemens, 2014)

A detailed article on connectivism, written by one of the biggest promoters of Connectivism- George Siemens. There is a lot of great information on how this impacts organizations which was particularly interesting. We struggle with this all the time at my company- "Connectivism addresses the challenges that many corporations face in knowledge management activities. Knowledge that resides in a database needs to be connected with the right people in the right context in order to be classified as learning".

I am very pleased with this video. It's an interview with Etienne Wenger and he explains, in his own terms, his research and definition of the Community of Practice.

I also liked the explanation about how members from a Communities of Practice are engaged in a similar practice but they may do it in different settings. They don´t need to do it together. The learning contract between the members is the key of success.

Dr. Wenger talks about his Community of Practice. This discussion gives us an outline of how skills be shared through a CoP. According to Dr. Wenger, the CoP creates an on-going network of resources to communicate problems and discuss solutions. The learning and knowledge sharing can even create knowledge creation as solutions are discussed.

The authors look at connectivism through the lens of a literature review and a qualitative interview session with educators. With these sources the paper examines the pros and cons of connectivism including its limitations as a postulated theory. The conclusions drawn are that behaviourism, cognitivism and constructivism fall short to fully explain modern learning realities, but that it is unclear if connectivism can be seen as the next stage of learning theory evolution for several reasons.

You are right about this being a "very detailed" definition of connectivism. I appreciate is the "conclusions and suggestions" section which challenges the labeling of connectivism as a learning theory as opposed to a pedagogical approach. I completed a research paper in EDTECH501 in regards to the relationship of connectivism and mastery learning, and never once did I read about this debate. To me, the fact that connectivism is more concerned with the process of learning rather than the end product proves that it is in fact a learning theory.

I really agree this article does a nice job contradicting the value or criteria of connectivism as a learning theory versus a pedagogical approach. Many of you discussed this above so I will leave it alone. The piece I wanted to comment on came at the end of the article when the author brought up the idea that older teachers take longer to learn the digital aspects and are less likely to engage in adapting the practice. Where younger teachers who grew up in this era are more apt to use and utilize web 2.0 tools in their teaching and engage in this model of teaching and learning themselves. I have to be honest that I saw some of these same things in our school when we went to a 1:1 iPad. Many of the younger and newer teachers jumped in and had very little learning curve in understanding what was happening. Where older teachers struggled or resisted the change. I would be interested in what others experiences were as well?

This is a pretty simple explanation of connectivism. Basically it is about adding nodes to your PLN which connects you to another resource.

Usually when I see anything WIki that has to do with research I have the initial tendency to try to stay far away because in my undergrad years I was constantly reminded to pursue peer reviewed articles. What I really appreciate about this resource is how simple and basic it is on Connectivism. This wikispace provides all the "nuts and bolts" of Connectivism and is a great starting point for digging deeper into understanding its theory. Great find!

"Connectivism is a learning theory promoted by Stephen Downes and George Siemens." Learning occurs with connections in networks. This article believes that with connectivism we can move to a new age of learning. Learning can be more collaborative and global. With connectivism we see the use of networks with nodes and connections to elaborate on our learning.

A PDF document created jointly by the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) and the Society of American Archivists (SAA) that outlines core ideas and learning objectives to develop literacy skills in using primary source documents as distinguished from secondary source documents.

Here is a very complex study. Fortunately, the highlights tell us some important findings. This study went with the understanding that teachers have organically formed professional learning networks using the Internet, and report that they like them. This study focused on putting some data behind that, which it has provided. As a teacher, I found this quote very refreshing, about a researcher that "argued that top-down teacher PD in schools often aligns with hierarchical structures that de-skill teachers from their intellectual work by treating them as passive recipients of mandates. Even the term "professional development" conveys that teachers are "deficient and in need of developing and directing." In my own PLN, I have learned much more about teaching and learning from an 8th grade math teacher than I have in any of my administration-mandated social studies PD sessions.

I'll be honest, I did not read the entire study, but the highlights from this article and the abstract once again confirmed what I'm starting to realize. We are teaching in a way that is behind the times when it comes to the current ways students learn naturally. We are fighting their expectations trying to bottle them into the box that is traditional education.

SUMMARY: This page found on the Education 2020 Wiki details Connectivism theory and provides resources that help clarify the unique components of this theory compared to others. I found myself exploring the site more deeply and I appreciated the vast amounts of resources and clarifications available on this wiki. Feel free to get lost in it too!

This is a neat little article on connectivism. The best part is that it has a video contained within it by George Siemens that really helps you understand what this idea is getting at.

Connectivism is learning for the digital age. This article does a great job at explaining the principles of connectivism."Learning is a process that occurs within nebulous environments of shifting core elements - not entirely under the control of the individual."

This article talks about how communities of practice are all around us and that more than likely, everyone is in multiple groups or communities. It also discusses how knowledge is what holds the communities together rather than tasks doing so like on a team. As it explains what a community of practice is, it also goes into how to develop the community as well as how to maintain it. To help a community of practice to succeed, it says no member needs to be on the outside of the community, but for all members to be fully inside the community and fully committed.

It is nice to see how communities of practice are used in areas outside of education. I feel this really highlights the importance of them beyond the theoretical value and into real-world application.

This article provides characteristics of communities of practice and examples of where they can be seen but what stood out to me as being useful information is how to keep CoP's productive and "nurtured." The focus of implementing CoP's is not in education but rather business; however, the information is still relevant and applicable.

In this article two university librarians advocate using social media platforms to teach information literacy concepts. They believe that social media platforms, which students already engage in, provide a perfect focal point for showing students how they can access all kinds of information sources outside the realm of the traditional sources like books and scholarly articles. Because of the need to critically evaluate information found on the web, the use of social media for research provides an excellent demonstration model for this essential skill. Librarians, the authors say, should embrace a connectivist approach when using social media to show students the process for making connections between different sources of information.

This article seems so relevant, especially to my teaching experience. I think that teaching students how to use social media and evaluate information on the internet is not just something librarians should teach; it should be something all teachers cover as it is extremely valuable. As the world around us changes, so to must our teaching practices and the content we cover.